Planting what comes naturally

A landscaping company uses native flora that help protect Lake George

BRIAN NEARING Staff write, Times Union

By BRIAN NEARING Staff writer

Published 2:40 pm, Thursday, March 31, 2011

David DeFranco, left, and his son, Tony DeFranco, right, pose outside their business in Hague, NY on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. The business was honored last year by the Lake George Watershed Coalition for its work on using native plants and landscaping techniques to protect the water quality of the lake. Lake water quality has been declining in recent years as increasing development has increased the amounts of fertilizers, pesticides and other runoff that get into the lake. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

David DeFranco, left, and his son, Tony DeFranco, right, pose...

David DeFranco, left, and his son, Tony DeFranco, right, talk about their landscaping business during an interview at the business in Hague, NY on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. The business was honored last year by the Lake George Watershed Coalition for its work on using native plants and landscaping techniques to protect the water quality of the lake. Lake water quality has been declining in recent years as increasing development has increased the amounts of fertilizers, pesticides and other runoff that get into the lake. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

David DeFranco, left, and his son, Tony DeFranco, right, talk about their landscaping business during an interview at the business in Hague, NY on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. The business was honored last year by the Lake George Watershed Coalition for its work on using native plants and landscaping techniques to protect the water quality of the lake. Lake water quality has been declining in recent years as increasing development has increased the amounts of fertilizers, pesticides and other runoff that get into the lake. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Next time you're passing by that well-manicured Lake George property with a vivid green lawn that runs down to rose beds at the waters' edge, be sure of one thing: DeFranco Landscaping was not involved.

Founded in 1984 by David DeFranco, a former middle school science teacher at Hague and Ticonderoga, the company offers customers more natural landscapes using native trees and plants.

Things like chemical-hungry lawns and rose bushes are replaced by native plants like colorful purple or pink bee balm and black-eyed susans that are adapted to survive an Adirondack climate without chemicals or extensive watering.

"People living around the lake are becoming more and more aware of the value that the lake has, and that their actions on their property can affect the lake," said DeFranco, a trim 62-year-old. "More people are asking that we restore things more to the way they were before the house went up."

And the approach, which both protects the lake's water quality and provides a landscape that needs less labor and fewer materials to maintain, is gaining attention. Last fall, the Lake George Watershed Coalition awarded DeFranco its Frank Leonbruno Memorial Lake Stewardship Award for a private business.

Last fall, Claudia Welss had DeFranco install a buffer of native plants on the shore of her property on Indian Kettles Bay in Hague. She had been summering on the lake for the past 40 years, and moved into the home several years ago to be closer to her mother. She noticed that the water did not seem as clear as it once was, with a fine film of algae coating the bottom. At her new home, the yard was cleared and a lawn ran straight to the waters' edge.

"We could see that we were having a lot of water coming down the slope. In the spring, your feet would just sink right in." Extending the width of the shoreline, the buffer planted by DeFranco includes Lake George natives like shrubby St. John's wort, butterfly weed, swamp milkweed, New England aster, white wood aster and sneezeweed.

"We are so happy with the aesthetics, and the butterflies and the birds are coming back to the property. It feels so much more like nature. And we still have a few non-native plants for focal points," she said. "There is no sacrifice. A lot of the native plants are really beautiful."

"DeFranco's approach is about protecting the lake from harm," said David Decker, director of the Lake George Watershed Coalition, which is devoted to protecting the lake. "It is about educating the homeowner."

More natural landscapes help stop rain from running down the lake's steep hills and directly into the lake, or the streams that feed the lake. Instead, the native plants catch and store the rain. While many plants might accomplish the same thing, non-natives are not suited to the climate or can require the use of fertilizers and pesticides, which storm runoff carries into the water, along with silt.

Once there, fertilizers can feed algae blooms, an increasing problem in the 32-mile lake long known for clear water. As well as clouding water, silt moving downstream can feed growing deltas at the mouths of streams.

DeFranco and his wife, JoAnne, moved to Hague in 1972. The couple met while they were college students in Plattsburgh and, for a time, lived on Long Island. Her parents had a summer place on the lake, and the couple decided they would rather live there, too.

The business is a growing family affair. David DeFranco's new partner is his 37-year-old son, Anthony, who holds a degree in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkson University. He came aboard after working for several years in Connecticut, and later in Troy for The Chazen Companies, before deciding last year that the call of Lake George was too strong. He is a past president of the Mohawk Hudson Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

"I have seen the changes affecting the lake," said David DeFranco. "When we first got here, you could take out a canoe, and see down 30, 40, 50 feet. The clarity was phenomenal. I took a lot of my science classes on field trips to the lake."

But the water is becoming cloudier, as more and more homes are built along the shore and hillsides, spilling a mix of lake-bound fertilizers, pesticides and road salts.

"DeFranco has taken the time to figure this out, and install the shoreline buffers with native plants," said Emily DeBolt, education director for the Lake George Association, a 125-year-old lake conservation not-for-profit group that last summer helped convince the town of Lake George to ban fertilizers containing phosphorus, a potent nutrient that can help fuel lake algae.

"A lot of people around the lake may not be familiar with the native plants, and go with the plants they know," said DeBolt. "But we are starting to see this change."

Builders are calling the association, asking about native plants, after getting more requests from planning boards in Lake George and Queensbury to provide more natural landscaping to protect the lake, DeBolt said.

DeFranco's goal is to get to a property site before the bulldozers to collect trees and plants there so they can be replanted around the grounds. That approach fits in with the philosophy of The McKernon Group, a home builder based in Brandon, Vt.

"It is key for us to re-use any plantings we can from the site in other landscaping to keep the land somewhat in touch with its native properties," said Justus Cameron, project engineer for McKernon. "We work with DeFranco on coordinating and designing landscapes and rain gardens to pick up all of the water run-off and storm water run-off, so it can catch all of the silt and contamination before it reaches the lake."